How you doing? James McGill here to see my client. [beat] What?
SSanders
You look like Matlock.
Uh, no, I look like a young Paul Newman dressed as Matlock.
“Five-O” · Season 1, Episode 6
In this episode: Mike Ehrmantraut (3), Jimmy McGill (2), Stacey Ehrmantraut (2)
Oh, here's your coffee. Hope it's good to the last drop, 'cause I'm billing you the full hour for it.
That's for you.
Huh, that's very thoughtful. [beat] You serious? Why'd you have me bring that to you?
Alright, here's what's gonna happen: those two cops out there are from Philadelphia, they've come a long way to see me. When they come in here, we're all gonna have a little chat, and when it's over, the young one– who's been writing in his little notebook–he's gonna take it and put it in his jacket, and when he does that, I want you to take that coffee and spill it on him. Little accident. That's all.
And why, pray tell, would I do that?
Because I'm asking you to. It's the only reason you're here.
So I'm here because you want me to assault a police officer.
I am asking you to take a few ounces of lukewarm coffee and spill it on him. I doubt that satisfies the definition of "assault," but, hey, you're the lawyer.
You call the cops?
What?
Philadelphia PD. Did you call them?
Y-yeah, I did.
Why?
I told them I heard about Hoffman and Fensky-
And what?
You don't think it's strange? First Matt, then not six months later, his partner and his sergeant? Yeah, I called them to help catch Matty's killer. Mike, what if the same person-? If—what if the piece of shit who got Matty got them too?
And what exactly did you tell them?
I told them-
You told them Matt was dirty? Is that what you told them?
I-
How could you possibly think that? That's your husband, the father of your child–
I didn't say that. I-I told them I found money. After Kaylee and I moved here, when I was unpacking—it was in the lining of an old suitcase. Matt must've tucked it away in there, because this was cash. Five, six thousand, from God knows where! I mean, we were basically living paycheck to paycheck. Where the hell did he get it?
Why didn't you ask me? Why didn't you come to me?
I couldn't. I knew what it would do to you. First he's murdered, and then for you to think... I mean, it would burn you to the ground, there'd be nothing left. And you wouldn't talk to me! Every night, you were drinking yourself unconscious like you were the only one who lost him. Look, I don't care: he was dirty, he was clean, I don't care. All I want is for whoever killed Matty to rot in a cell for the rest of their life, and then I want whatever's left of them just dumped in the trash. That's what I want. I don't care where it leads, what it uncovers. I mean, what difference would it make if he was... anything? I'd still love him, I'd still miss him, he'd still be gone!
Matt wasn't dirty!
Well, so be straight with me. Right now! This is it, Mike! What was that phone call before he died? Don't bullshit me!
That was between me and my son.
So, you're admitting it was you!
He wasn't dirty! Goddamn you, you get that through your head! My son wasn't dirty!
[Mike admits the truth about his late son, Matty, to his wife]
You let some things slide and you look the other way. You bust a drug dealer that has more cash than you'll ever earn in a lifetime. Some of it doesn't make it back into evidence, so what? You took a taste. So did everyone else. That's how you knew you were safe. It's like killing Caesar. Everyone's guilty. Matt wasn't dirty. I was. Everyone was in that precinct. That's how it worked. You turn in your buddy, you're screwing yourself. You go along to get along.
And you went along.
[chuckles; clicks tongue] I did. Yeah. I did.
Okay. But you said Matt didn't.
No. Not Matt. Fensky got to Hoffman early, kickbacks from some gang or another. Protection, basically. And Hoffman went to Matty and offered to cut him in. Only fair, right? They were partners. And Matt did what you would think: He agonized. And then he came to me, wanted to go to the I.A., do the right thing, shut 'em down.
Oh, my God. And you let him? That's why he got killed 'cause he was gonna turn on those guys?
No. No. I told him...[sighs] "You know what a cop fears most? More than getting shot, more than anything? Prison. Getting locked up with everybody you put away. You threaten a cop with that, you make him dangerous." And that's what I told him. I talked sense. No one was getting hurt. "But if you go to the I.A., if you even look like you're going...?" He had a wife, a kid, responsibilities. "Take the money. Do something good with it." [chuckles] Well, I tried. I tried. But he wouldn't listen. My boy was stubborn. My boy was strong. And he was gonna get himself killed. So I told him...I told him I did it, too, that I was like Hoffman, getting by, and that's what you heard that night: Me talking him down, him kicking and screaming until the fight went out of him. He put me up on a pedestal. And I had to show him that I was down in the gutter with the rest of them. Broke my boy. I broke my boy. He went to Hoffman, he took the money, but he hesitated. Even looking like you're doing the right thing to those two meant that he wasn't solid – that he couldn't be trusted. I got Matty to take the money. And they killed him two days later. He was the strongest person that I ever knew. He'd have never done it, not even to save himself. I was the only one, I was the only one that could get him to debase himself like that. And it was for nothing. I made him lesser. I made him like me. And the bastards killed him anyway.
Hoffman and Fensky, if they killed Matty... who killed them? Pop... What happened?
You know what happened. The question is... Can you live with it?
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Better Call Saul pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.